Gavin Williamson defies May on military spending to salvage relationship with US

Gavin Williamson defies May on military spending to salvage relationship with US

DEFENCE Secretary Gavin Williamson has risked another war of words with Prime Minister Theresa May by declaring Britain will always be a “tier one” military power with the ability to deploy forces around the world.

The pair have been at loggerheads over cuts to military spending, with Mrs May rejecting a campaign from Mr Williamson to increase funds despite facing a shortage of £20.5 billion. She insisted Britain has the biggest defence budget in Europe and second largest among NATO members.

Mr Williamson talked up the “UK-US special relationship” in what appeared to be a response to Mr Mattis’ earlier comments around the UK being replaced as Washington’s closest ally.

He said: “The United States has never had nor will have a more reliable ally than Great Britain. Others may pretend – but you will find no greater ally than us.”

Gavin Williamson has again defied Theresa May on military spending in the long-running row (Image: GETTY)

The Defence Secretary also used his address to highlight the importance of NATO to the US as Donald Trump continues to berate and increase pressure on allies to contribute more to the costs of their collective defence.

The US President told leaders at the NATO summit last month that they should increase their defence spending to four percent of GDP - doubling the two percent target that is set to be met by eight member states. Britain contributes two percent of GDP to NATO.

Mr Williamson claimed the pressure put on NATO allies that they needed to spend more on defence is now paying off.

He said: "Alongside the US, the UK has been pressing for the alliance to do more, to pay its way. We are now seeing the results. Last year saw Nato's biggest spending increase in 25 years.

Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, he said: “For far too often we have been bound and thought that we could only look to other European Union nations.

Gavin Williamson is in the US for defence talks with James Mattis (Image: GETTY)

“The time is now to look to the whole globe, see what other nations we can partner with and make sure that we build strong and new alliances.

“These are many nations that we have strong military links with and strong and deep connections with.

“We're very confident because of our world leading position in combat air there are many nations that will want to work with us.

“I do not believe that we should be in the customs union and that is the Government's policy, and I do not believe for one minute that actually being outside of a customs union will in any way restrict our ability to deliver on Tempest.”